New York Falls Short in ‘Race to the Top’ Sweepstakes

After somehow earning a spot as one of the sixteen semifinalists, New York missed out on federal education-grant funding, as the Obama administration’s “Race to the Top” program awarded two states, Tennessee and Delaware, with $600 million in grants Monday. Governor Paterson said he wasn’t surprised about New York losing out, but that he’s hoping the state will have a “strong shot” in the next round, with applications due inJune.

Of course, if that is going to happen, there are two areas that Paterson has stressed need to be addressed: a lift on the current cap on the number of New York charter schools at 200, and an end to the regulation that restricts student performance from being a factor in tenure decisions — both stances opposed by the state’s teacherunions.

“Some of my colleagues don’t know what the elements of victory are, or they just deliberately blew off the chance of getting this money,” Paterson said. “We need the money. I think it’s one of those situations where we can’t afford the luxury of letting ideological differences get in the way.”

Huffing and puffing and blaming your colleagues for “blowing off” their chance is always a great first step in overcoming “ideological differences,” we’vefound!